Fiasco warning over Cambridge station CyclePoint

All, I am the MD of the company that manufactures the cycle racks, Falco. Although I cannot comment on behalf of the railway company, we have worked in partnership for many years with over 15 of the Train Operating Companies (TOC's) accross the UK and I can confirm that they have a vast amount of red tape, from numerous bodies (often with differing focus), covering all manner of issues from technical restrictions to funding restrictions, which they need to fulfill just to install a few cycle stands, hence to me this facility (and many others) is an absolutely enormous acheivement. Regarding the racks themselves, we in the UK do not have a 'standard' for the design of the racks which they do in Holland, hence the best technology currently comes out of the Netherlands and with a Falco product these are then adapted to meet the needs of multiple locking required for the UK market. Additionally the FalcoLevel Premium+ model used here has an integral gas strut to aid the lifting of the bike in the upper tier. Cynicism is easy to throw around and I understand everyone's hesitation, but can I suggest everyone withholds judgement until they have tried them, one of our staff will be on hand on Monday to help people get used to the new racks, so why not pop down there on Monday and make contact with Lionel O'Hara, or alternatively I am always available for feedback via the Falco office (details on the website), thanks Jeremy Green.

Do people purposely design these things badly so someone else can say it was a waste of money and not to spend anymore?

I can't comment on these racks not being able to see a good picture or drawing (with measurements) but as with Wycombewheeler I think racks should only be used on a daily basis and not as long time storage.

I have tried to use the racks at Paddington but could not find any free space, did see an awful lot of bikes that looked as if they'd been there a year or more some without chains, brakes etc etc.

Has anyone got a link to a photo of the new racks?

it seems to me that cycle parking, (as the station car park) is intended for people using the trains for day trips, not for long term storage. If I were a person with the intent of leaving my bike clogging up the bike parking (potentially depriving other users of a space) for a long time, I wouldn't be so quick to bleat about it.

Also I wouldn't be comfortable with the security of leaving my bike there over several nights.

as to the racks not being suitable for securing frames - a photo of the racks in question would be helpful. There is guidance for bike racks which makes it quite clear that they should allow for locking the frame to the rack, and not just the wheel.

"Meeting people's expectations" is a poor defence, because we are all so used to infrastructure which is poor, how about meeting peoples needs for a change?

Sounds like it could be another cock-up British style. These people in positions of power and influence just will not listen to anyone else, they've got their clipboard and form, and it says what they want it to say. And sod anyone else.

And then when the brown sticky stuff hits the fan, these faceless people have moved on and someone else is left to pick up the pieces, saying lessons have been learnt and we won't make the same mistakes again. And so on and so on etc etc